Qualcomm’s next flagship mobile chip is just around the corner. The company will officially unveil it this month during the Snapdragon Summit 2024 in Hawaii. A Xiaomi 15 series poster confirmed the rebranding of the previously known Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 as Snapdragon 8 Elite. Now a new report reveals the Snapdragon 8 Elite’s component layout, confirming some key details.
According to previous leaks, the Snapdragon 8 Elite will be available in 4G/5G (SM8750) and WiFi-only (SM8750P) versions. The latter would be aimed at flagship devices without cellular connectivity, such as tablets. The leaked chip’s component layout appears to correspond to the SM8750, as the 5G modem is present. This modem would support mmWave 5G and sub-6GHz bands.
LPDDRX5 RAM and UFS 4.0 support for the Snapdragon 8 Elite
The report claims that the SoC will support LPDDRX5 RAM, just like the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. Previous reports suggested that it would support LPDDR6 RAM, but it looks like that won’t be the case in the end. Anyway, LPDDRX5 RAM is already quite fast, and no LPDDR6 flagship devices have been leaked yet. As for internal storage, the chip will support UFS 4.0 (read and write speeds of up to 4500 MB/s and 4000 MB/s, respectively).
The Snapdragon 8 Elite component layout shows that it will support displays with a resolution of up to 3840 x 2560 (4K) at a refresh rate of 144Hz. That said, it’s quite possible that we won’t see a mobile device that boasts such a resolution. Even the flagship Sony Xperia phones that resorted to 4K resolution have changed their focus. However, we may see premium tablets with 4K displays.
Oryon cores to bring notable improvements
The Snapdragon 8 Elite will mark a tech milestone for Qualcomm. The company will return to implementing custom cores instead of vanilla ARM cores. The company will bring the Oryon cores from its Snapdragon X chips for ARM laptops to phones. Interestingly, the leaked component layout calls the chip’s cores “Kryo Gold” and “Kryo Silver.” “Kryo” is the old name for Qualcomm’s custom cores. “Gold” and “Silver” refer to super cores and high-performance cores, respectively.
Anyway, the Oryon cores will bring noticeable improvements in performance and power efficiency. Tests of the Snapdragon 8 Elite-powered OnePlus 13 on Geekbench yielded scores of 3,236 and 10,049 in the single-core and multi-core tests, respectively. The Galaxy S25 Ultra also passed the same tests, scoring just under 9k points in the multi-core tests. The SoC’s CPU would have 2x super cores at up to 4.32 GHz and 6x high-performance cores at 3.53 GHz.
Significant price increase
The chip’s price, however, will reflect its performance gains. Tipster Ice Universe claimed that the Snapdragon 8 Elite will cost around $240 per unit. For reference, the current Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 costs around $190. So, manufacturers will have to maneuver within their margins to decide which commercial strategy to take. You may see a price increase on some new mobile flagships.
